I recently posted this very point in another thread, so I am glad to see it get more attention.
I think the quality of play would unilaterally improve across the league as the obstruction could be decreased with the level of talent increasing. If you look at every team that has had to cut it's top payroll players to the spending teams in the league, and look at how they would fair with that added skill in their lineup, it speaks for itself.
The one thing that it doesn't account for is how teams are often able to turn a Tkachuk into a Nagy or a Yashin into a Chara & Spezza. Teams are often able to rebuild off of these salary dump trades. If the financial disparity in the league shrank, than you might see more teams competiting for these higher priced talents and you'd probably see an even great return to the rebuilding process as they might be more affordable to more teams.
Some teams might not have 6-7 great players on their team, but instead 4-5, which would make it more competitive for the teams that only had 1-2 great players on their team and now benefit from have 3-4 great players.
Anyone that says that if they enforce the rules on obstruction and other game-slowing tactics that it would not change the quality of the game doesn't know what they are talking about. I'm hoping that this will be a product of the cost certainty the NHL is trying to get by the current CBA negotiations. For the growth of the sport it's important to improve the quality of play across the league, if not, then it's just another case of the rich get richer. The biggest market teams can afford the best players thus affording the best on ice product. Meanwhile, the teams struggling to pack the arena's continue to struggle when they can only afford to ice a team of obstructors.
If you are a fan of Detroit, Colorado, or another big market team, you might not like the sound of it because that means you will see one of your skilled players on the other side in due time. If you are a fan of the sport, you realize it's necessary to improve the game for the future.
However, I don't support a hard salary cap, but that's been well documented on these boards what I do support.